Sherbrooke soundly shut down by volleyball Martlets

Box ScoreMONTREAL — Marie-Pier Durivage, a senior middle-blocker from St. Nicolas, Que., posted a game-high 16 kills for the McGill women’s volleyball team, helping them power through a stubborn Sherbrooke defence en route to a key and decisive 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon. The Martlets won by set scores of 25-19, 25-16, 22-25 and 25-16.

It was McGill’s second victory in the past week against Sherbrooke, who have also dropped two straight visits to Love Competition Hall dating back to last season.

The Martlets needed many second and third efforts during rallies against the Vert & Or, who finished with an 18-7 advantage in stuff blocks, including a game-high 10 from right-side Anne-Julie D’Auteuil and five others with at least four blocks or more.

Keeping the ball alive allowed McGill’s offence to execute their readjusted game-plan — in the wake of back-to-back 3-0 losses to Montreal and Laval — and relentlessly apply pressure. According to head coach Rachele Beliveau, the team’s wide variety of hitting options at the net made the difference.

“It’s good for us because we had a solid game against Montreal and still lost, followed by an OK game against Laval, in which there were a few things we needed to adjust, which we did today,” Beliveau explained. “We passed better and we served better, so that put us in a position where we could be more offensive-minded today. To that end, we’re a team that has many hitting options, so we just need to bring the ball to the net and create those options. If we do that, we can be hard to beat.”

Dawoodjee, a senior nutritional science student from Ottawa, played a superb passing game, collecting a game-high 42 assists and three of the Martlets’ 10 service aces. Durivage, meanwhile, led her team’s defensive effort with four of of the team’s 14 blocks.

Sherbrooke (4-3) will return to Montreal next Friday night to face the UdeM Carabins (6-2), while McGill (6-2) heads up to Laval to take on the Rouge et Or (6-1). Both games go at 6 p.m.